Fake and non-patient reviews
One-star reviews on Google, Healthgrades, Zocdoc or Trustpilot from people who were never patients, or from competitors, pulling down the rating.
Healthcare reputation management for doctors and clinics
Patients search the doctor before they book. We remove fake reviews and defamatory threads at the source, suppress what cannot come down and rebuild page one, without ever discussing a patient in public.
Get a free assessmentWhy a doctor’s search results carry more weight.
A patient choosing a surgeon, a dentist or a clinic is making a decision about their own health. They read the star rating, the worst review and whatever thread ranks next to your name, and many never get as far as your website. One fabricated review or a coordinated attack can undo years of careful work in a single search.
Healthcare providers also have fewer ways to defend themselves. Privacy rules mean you cannot answer a review by explaining what really happened in the treatment room. Healthcare reputation management fills that gap: it takes down what breaks platform rules or the law, pushes down what cannot be removed and builds credible content that speaks for your practice.
- Fake and defamatory reviews removed where the platform rules allow
- Attack threads and misleading pages taken down or pushed off page one
- Accurate profiles, directory listings and AI answers in their place
- No public replies that reveal anything about a patient
[Your Name, Your Company]
AI Overview
Several sources raise concerns about [Your Name], citing complaints1 and disputed claims2.
!forum, 2024
!news aggregator
news-aggregator.com
Allegations and ongoing complaints surface online
old-forum.com
Is this company a scam? What people are saying
★★☆☆☆
1.8 from 240 reviews
The situations doctors and clinics bring to us.
Medical reputations are attacked in a few recurring ways. These are the ones we see most.
Coordinated attacks on a name
Reddit threads, and sometimes a whole subreddit, created to label a practitioner a “scam” and ranking for their name. See how we neutralized one for a surgeon.
Fake reviews that are really ads
Pages written as a former patient’s honest complaint that end by steering readers to a competing product or clinic.
Listings from a practice you left
Old Google Business Profile listings and directory pages with the wrong address, hours or practice, still collecting reviews in your name.
Malpractice claims and press
Coverage of a complaint, a lawsuit or an allegation that ranks above your credentials, sometimes long after the matter was resolved.
AI summaries that repeat the worst
Google AI Overviews and AI assistants summarizing a clinician from forum posts and outdated pages instead of verified sources.
Platforms where we protect reputations
The privacy rules that shape medical reputation work.
In the United States, how you respond to criticism is limited by health privacy law, and how reviews are handled is limited by consumer protection rules. Our work is built around both. This is general information, not legal advice.
Patient information cannot go into a reply
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, a covered entity may not use or disclose protected health information except as the rule permits or requires. That is why detail about a patient’s care in a public reply can expose a practice, as the next point shows. [2]
Regulators have penalized review responses
In 2023 the HHS Office for Civil Rights announced a settlement with Manasa Health Center, a New Jersey psychiatric practice that disclosed patients’ protected health information when responding to their negative online reviews. The practice paid $30,000 and agreed to a corrective action plan. [1]
Threats to force a review down can backfire
The FTC rule on consumer reviews treats unfounded legal threats, intimidation or public false accusations made knowingly or with reckless disregard, used to prevent a review or get it removed as an unfair or deceptive practice. Removal has to rest on real grounds, such as a policy breach or a false statement of fact. [3]
Fake positive reviews are prohibited
The same rule prohibits businesses from writing, creating or selling reviews that misrepresent whether the reviewer exists or used the service. We never add invented reviews; we remove the fake ones and help genuine patient feedback reach your profile. [4]
Services that protect a medical practice.
Each engagement combines the services the case needs. These are the ones healthcare clients use most.
Service
Content removal
Fake reviews, defamatory posts and misleading pages taken down at the source through platform and legal channels.
Service
Reddit post removal
Attack threads and comments removed through moderators, admins or legal channels, or pushed down when removal is not possible.
Service
Trustpilot review removal
Fake and policy-violating reviews taken down, strictly within Trustpilot’s own rules.
Service
Negative content suppression
Damaging results pushed off page one by ranking accurate, authoritative content for the doctor and the clinic.
Service
Google Business Profile removal
Old or duplicate practice listings you no longer control taken out of Google Search and Maps.
Service
AI Overview optimization
We reframe the sources and signals Google’s AI Overview reads, so the summary of your name rests on accurate, verified sources.
What a recovered page one looks like.
The same search for your name or firm before we act, and after we remove what can be removed, suppress the rest and rebuild what ranks.
Before
Your official content: not ranking
[Your Name, Your Company]
AI Overview
Coverage of [Your Name] is dominated by complaints and a disputed story.
news-aggregator.com
Allegations and ongoing complaints
old-forum.com
Is this company a scam? Honest take
★★☆☆☆
1.8 from 240 reviews
After
Your official content: ranking #1
[Your Name, Your Company]
AI Overview
[Your Name] is described accurately, with verified sources and recent positive coverage leading the result.
yourdomain.com
Official statement and verified company profile
businessinsider.com
Recent coverage and industry commentary
★★★★★
4.7 from 240 reviews
Assess
Map the damage
Stabilize
Stop the spread
Suppress
Bury the damage
Monitor
Hold the result
How we work with healthcare providers.
A confidential plan that never requires you to share patient records with the public.
- 01
Confidential audit
We map what ranks for the practitioner and the practice across Google, review sites, directories and AI answers, and flag what is removable.
- 02
Grounds and plan
For each item we identify the pathway: platform policy, fake or non-patient review, defamation or misleading health content. You get a clear plan before any work begins.
- 03
Removal and rebuild
We pursue the removals, suppress what cannot come down and strengthen your owned profiles and listings. Nothing we file or publish discusses a patient’s care.
- 04
Monitoring
We watch page one, your review profiles and the AI answers every week and react when something new appears.
Real healthcare and wellness cases.
Published with our clients’ permission, names hidden where they asked.
Case study
A coordinated attack on a surgeon’s name
Two Reddit threads and an attack subreddit ranked for a London surgeon’s name. Today seven of the ten page-one results are brand-owned.
Case study
15+ false reviews removed for a wellness center
Inaccurate Google reviews, full Reddit threads and misleading comments taken down, and a 5-star Google rating regained.
Case study
A health program’s Trustpilot score from 3.7 to 4.9
50 to 60 false reviews removed over two to three months while genuine client feedback reached the profile.
Case study
A fake health review page removed in six days
A Google Sites page posing as a former client’s complaint about a health program, removed by Google after a legal request on defamation grounds.
Guide
Online reputation for doctors
How to protect your professional name, claim your listings and respond to reviews without breaching patient privacy.
Questions about reputation management for healthcare.
Cannot find what you are looking for? Send us your question and we answer within one business day.
Send your questionHow do you charge for medical reputation management?
For content removal, you are billed only when the URL is verified offline. No retainer, no setup fee. For ongoing reputation management, the first month is contingent on the strategy we deliver in week one. If you do not see the path forward, you do not pay.
Can you remove a bad review from a real patient?
Only when it breaks the platform’s rules or the law, for example when it is fake, posted by someone who was never a patient or contains false statements of fact. An honest opinion from a real patient usually stays up. In that case we suppress it and strengthen the accurate content around it.
Do you need access to patient records?
No. We work from what is published online and from the facts you choose to share about whether a reviewer was ever a patient. We never ask you to disclose a patient’s care, and we never post replies that discuss it.
Do you work with dentists, surgeons and clinics?
Yes. The same approach works for physicians, surgeons, dentists, clinics and wellness businesses. The plan depends on whether the problem sits on the practitioner’s name, the practice or both.
How long does it take?
It depends on the case. A single policy-violating review can come down quickly, while suppressing a thread or an article that ranks well takes longer. We tell you what is realistic up front.
Is it confidential?
Yes. Every client signs an NDA, and so do we. Our case studies only show clients who gave us permission.
Take back control of what patients find about you.
Send us what ranks for your name or your practice and we review it for free: what can be removed, what we suppress and how we rebuild page one. We answer within one business day.
Sources
- HHS Office for Civil Rights, agreement with Manasa Health Center, LLC over disclosures in responses to online reviews (June 5, 2023)
- 45 CFR § 164.502(a), Uses and disclosures of protected health information: general rules
- 16 CFR § 465.7, Review suppression (FTC)
- 16 CFR § 465.2, Fake or false consumer reviews (FTC)
Last reviewed 2026-11-02. This page is general information, not legal advice.